Here in the Corner yesterday, we had some fun with place-names — and that included the pronunciation of those names. Kay-ro, Illinois, Ver-sales, Kentucky, etc. It all started with Berlin — and towns of Berlin across America. In many of these towns, perhaps most of them, people say “BER-lin,” to rhyme with “hurlin’.” The towns were once called Ber-LIN; but World War I changed that.

I’m going to get off this subject — but not without sharing three items, from readers. Okay, No. 1:

A few readers wrote to say that, in Michigan, there is a town called Marne. Until WWI, however, it was called Berlin. A touch of this remains in Marne: whose racetrack is called the Berlin Raceway. (And the name is pronounced as in the German capital, not as in “hurlin’.”)

No. 2: A reader writes, “I pastored in a place called ‘New Germany.’ At least it was called that until 1914. They changed the name to Snyder after a prominent citizen — whose name had been Schneider.”

Great stuff. And No. 3: “In the southwest area of my state of Virginia we have a tiny town called Dante. It’s pronounced ‘Daint,’ as in ‘ain’t.’ You can always tell who’s local and who’s most certainly not.”

I bet! Thank you one and all.